A wide variety of faucets for dispensing liquids from containers such as coffee urns, juice containers, iced tea containers and the like are well known and in widespread use. In a typical arrangement, a resilient seat cup or other flexible sealing member is biased into sealing engagement with a valve seat. The seat cup or other sealing member is selectively deformed or otherwise moved away from the valve seat to allow liquid flow therepast.
When liquids include suspended solids (e.g., juice containing pulp), it is possible for the solids to accumulate adjacent the valve seat and/or on the seal member, itself. These accumulated solids can interfere with proper sealing engagement between the sealing member and valve seat and are otherwise generally undesirable.
In certain applications, it is highly desirable to minimize contact between the liquid being dispensed and the sealing member to prevent the sealing member from imparting any taste to the liquid. This can occur when the liquid sits in the container/faucet for a prolonged period between dispensing occurrences.
Furthermore, in conventional faucets, a high quality seat cup or other sealing member defined from silicone or the like adds significant cost to the faucet. As such, it is desirable to minimize the mass of the sealing member to reduce the cost of the faucet and replacement seal members.
A need has also been identified for a faucet that overcomes the above-noted deficiencies and others while also providing self-closing action.